Breathing Life Into “Manta Bay”

After a National Geographic article made Hanifaru Bay world-famous, hordes of visitors endangered the very animals they came to see. Here’s how the bay bounced back.

- Simon Hilbourne, Manta Trust

To swim side by side with a graceful manta ray is a dream for most divers. For many, it remains a dream. A few of us are lucky enough to have dived at a manta cleaning station, and experienced half a dozen mantas queuing up for the cleaner-fish spa.

But in terms of manta encounters, one magical site stands above all the rest. Little comes close to the sheer spectacle of a manta cyclone whirling into a feeding frenzy in Hanifaru Bay, in the Maldives.

It’s a gem in the biological crown of Baa Atoll. When the tides and currents are just right, the unique shape of the bay traps and concentrates planktonic food. That, in turn, attracts up to 200 reef manta rays (Mobula alfredi) and occasionally whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) to gorge on the seasonally abundant plankton.

Tourists can visit Hanifaru Bay with a certified guide, at most 10 guests per guide, to swim with the enormous manta rays for a set 45-minute period. Strict rules alternate the use of the bay between resorts and local guesthouses, to keep the number of tourists down.

At most, five boats are allowed to moor up on the side of the bay, and guests must swim to the feeding site, with no more than 80 visitors in the water at once. These enforcements enable tourists to safely experience incredible manta encounters, while also ensuring that the manta rays and whale sharks are not disturbed. The whole system ensures that this important habitat is protected.

But it wasn’t always this way. The bay was known in diving circles and with the local resorts, but was low-profile. That changed in 2008, when the National Geographic photographer Thomas Peschak first came to document the events in the bay. It was clear he would blow the bay’s cover.